[Update, 24 March. It now appears that the Brixton fatality involved a pedestrian not a cyclist. The quote below was subsequently revised by the Evening Standard.]
Two cyclists have died after being hit by lorries in separate accidents on the streets of London.
A 20-year-old man, thought to be a foreign national, was killed when his bike collided with a skip lorry in Bermondsey early yesterday afternoon.
Four hours earlier a male cyclist in his thirties died after being trapped under a lorry outside Lambeth town hall in Brixton.
The skip lorry driver was arrested and taken for questioning after the crash in Bermondsey, which took place at the junction of Tanner Street and Tooley Street.
Both the cyclist and the lorry were travelling in the same direction at the time and police say it is unclear how the collision occurred.
photo credit: LondonSE1
Context:
Mayor Boris Johnson, came under criticism in October 2009 after deciding to withdraw Transport for London funding from the Metropolitan Police’s Commercial Vehicle Education Unit (CVEU), which inspected lorries in the capital, insisting that the voluntary Freight Operators’ Registration Scheme (FORS) provided an adequate safeguard.
While the CVEU has been reconstituted by the Met as the Commercial Vehicle Unit, operating out of Alperton in North West London, it does not have the same scale of resources or manpower as it used to do.
Yes, sections of the road haulage industry may be completely out of control but let’s face it the Met has other priorities. And in Parliament there is great vexation at one notorious road user group.
In the meantime, don’t forget the LCC’s day of inaction.
